What do you want to store near your chickens?

[Skellington]

Hi all! I'm a new member, in the research-and-design stage. One of the things I'd love to incorporate in my coop is storage for essentials, because I know my own laziness. Problem is, since I haven't kept chickens before I don't know what the essentials ARE, and for the essentials I can figure out (food, bedding) I don't know how much space they take up.

The legal chicken limit in my town is five, so I'm somewhat protected from chicken math (sure, I could go on a bender, throw caution to the winds, and bring home one, maybe two, illegal chickens -- but serious flock expansion will get attention from the neighbors). I really want three chickens... so I'm planning the coop & run for five or six (haven't figured out exact dimensions).

The deep litter method makes the most sense for me, though I haven't yet decided to use it for coop, run, or both. I know I'll need oyster shells, scratch, feed, pine shavings... but I don't know how much space to plan for these things. Tools can hang on the wall.

So.

What do you like to have stored near your coop? What do you WISH you could store right close to your coop? How big is a standard size of whatever that item is?

 

[staceyj]

I also have a “tiny flock!”
I picked up a used heavy duty deck box that someone put out for the trash.
There was nothing wrong with it that I could see! It’s nice to have a dry place within arms reach to store stuff.
I keep almost every thing from cleaning supplies to shavings in there since I only have one small shelf inside my actual coop.

I have a cat at my house and save the plastic jugs that hold 15 pounds of kitty litter.
I label them and fill them with grit, oyster shell, and sweet pdz.

Food though... I only keep one gallon of feed in a sturdy Rubbermaid container. So like one fill-ups worth.

My feed container itself hangs in the run from 6:30 am -8:00 pm.

At night I take it off the hanger and store it in a small metal trashcan with a tight fitting lid to avoid attracting rats overnight.

The back stock of my feed I keep in the garage where it’s cooler than outside in a big plastic container, also with a tight lid, meant for storing charcoal.

You are going to have so much fun on your chicken adventure!
I am really happy for you.

And welcome to BYC!

 

[townchicks]

Galvanized garbage cans are great for storing so many things, food, pine shavings, etc. I'd plan for space to put a couple of those at least. I also store dry leaves in mine to add to the run in wet weather.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Just outside my run I have a roofed area where I keep a metal trash can for the feeder to go in at night. Along with that I have 2 lidded buckets for poop collection (my mother in law wants some for her compost, and I compost as well), a few other miscellaneous buckets for transporting bedding or whatever, the pooper scooper, and a pile of bricks, because bricks are oddly useful in a chicken run.

Inside the coop I have shelving to hold little containers of grit, oyster shell, various feeds and treats.

I have bigger trash cans of feed inside the garage, as well as wood shavings. As I don't need to access those daily it's fine having it put away.

 

[Skellington]

This is great! I'd been thinking of one closet sort of thing to hold everything, but now it sounds like I should be thinking of a few galvanized garbage pails and maybe a much smaller shelf.

I like the idea of storing the larger amounts of feed/shavings elsewhere, but I turned my garage into my art studio, so there isn't a better 'elsewhere' to go. I might have to extend the roof eaves so I have a drier space outside the coop and run for bulk items (I'm in the PNW too, @rosemarythyme -- south sound region -- so WET is the big problem!).

 

[rosemarythyme]

This is great! I'd been thinking of one closet sort of thing to hold everything, but now it sounds like I should be thinking of a few galvanized garbage pails and maybe a much smaller shelf.

I like the idea of storing the larger amounts of feed/shavings elsewhere, but I turned my garage into my art studio, so there isn't a better 'elsewhere' to go. I might have to extend the roof eaves so I have a drier space outside the coop and run for bulk items (I'm in the PNW too, @rosemarythyme -- south sound region -- so WET is the big problem!).

I considered doing an outside cabinet of some sort, but I don't really have a great area close to the run that's completely safe from rain to put it in. Putting stuff out in the open under a free standing roof is better for keeping it dry - yes it gets wet but it also dries fast. I haven't had any issue with feed getting wet/moldy while kept in conditions like that.

 

[Skellington]

@rosemarythyme That's a good point -- I'll consider extending the eaves of the run even farther to create some more drying-out space.

I have a theoretically great covered porch that runs the length of the back of my house, but it leaks like a sieve, and I don't really want to replace the corrugated roofing on it because I'd rather take it down and do it over differently.

 

[Toothpick]

I have food, one bag of pine shavings, Sweet PDZ, unused waterer, unused feeder, cat litter scooper. That’s about it. All in all it takes up very little room. But I have a separate storage shed I keep it in.

I have a thing of grit and a thing of oyster shells that is inside the run/coop. They always stay there.